Caitlin Long (Avanti Financial Group) on Bitcoin banks and the Wyoming SPDI (EP. 101)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Release Date: 07/13/2020
Weekly Roundup 04/25/25 (Decoupling, Fed Rescinds guidance, 21 Capital) (EP.616)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: Is Bitcoin decoupling? The Fed rescinds anti-crypto letters from 2022 and 2023 Upexi raises $100m PIPE to invest in Solana Cantor, Tether, Softbank and Bitfinex inject $3.6b into 21 Capital, a Bitcoin acquisition vehicle Bitcoin ETFs versus bitcoin acquisition companies Trump is hosting a dinner for $TRUMP holders Charles Schwab wants to launch crypto trading Citi thinks stablecoins could reach $3.7T in supply by 2030
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Weekly Roundup 04/18/25 (Signature Postmortem, Mantra collapse, Powell on stablecoins) (EP.615)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: We recap Nic’s article on why Signature collapsed Crypto exchange OKX their plans to expand to the US Kraken that US equities are now supported on the exchange MANTRA, a layer 1 network focused on RWAs, saw the price of its native token 90% in a matter of hours Global Payments agreed to Worldpay, a payments processor, for $24 billion from FIS and private equity firm GTCR The US Department of Homeland Security has launched a into Anchorage,...
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Fred Hsu and Michael Ho (D3) on Creating Efficient Domain Name Markets (EP.614)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Wyatt sits down with Fred Hsu and Michael Ho of to talk domain markets. In this episode: The existing domain name industry and legacy systems An interoperable marketplace for domains New financial promitives around domains and RWAs
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Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki (Digital Asset) on the Canton Network (EP.613)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Yuval Rooz and Eric Saraniecki, co-founders of Digital Asset join the show. In this episode we discuss: The origins of Digital Asset and the path to starting the firm. Views on privacy in the context of public blockchains. How enterprises and financial institutions are approaching tokenizing assets and leveraging blockchain technology. Examples of how on-chain privacy enables use cases in collateral management and stablecoin payments. The role of the Canton Network public blockchain for enabling institutional use cases. How Canton Network works from a design perspective. To learn...
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Weekly Roundup 04/11/25 (Tether’s new stablecoin, Signature, dedollarization, DoJ disbands crypto team) (EP.612)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back with another week of news and deals. In this episode: Is dedollarization happening? The SEC's Division of Corporate Finance released a "" The US Justice Department has its National Cryptocurrency Enforcement team The SEC releases new guidance on securities offerings in crypto markets FDIC Chair relaxes rules on crypto activities at banks Paul Atkins is confirmed The SEC has approved options trading for spot ETH ETFs Tether is exploring a US stablecoin Janover is doing a Microstrategy for SOL strategy Michelle Bowman is launching a review...
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Wyatt Lonergan and Juan Lopez (Vaneck Ventures) on Stablecoin Adoption and The Institutionalization of Crypto (EP.611)
On The Brink with Castle Island
and of join the show to talk stablecoins and institutionalization. In this episode, we cover: The landscape of stablecoin growth and activity A world with many stablecoins vs few stablecoins Winning/losing companies in the new stablecoin era Impact on the longer tail of altcoins
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Hoolie Tejwani (Coinbase) on The Evolution of Coinbase Ventures (EP.610)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the head of Coinbase Ventures joins the show. In this episode we discuss: The history and rationale behind the launch of Coinbase Ventures. The evolution of the crypto venture category. Areas of focus for Coinbase Ventures. Stablecoins, Crypto/AI and consumer startup category. The regulatory landscape in the United States. Operation Chokepoint 2.0 and the impact on startups. The rise of the Coinbase Mafia. To learn more visit
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Weekly Roundup 04/03/25 (Circle S1, Tariffs, Galaxy settles, BitMEX pardons) (EP.609)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic are back for another week of news and deals. In this episode: What’s the deal with the tariffs? Are the tariffs 4D chess? STABLE Act advances from committee Galaxy settles with the NYAG for touting Luna Trump pardons the BitMEX founders Coinlist returns to the US FDUSD has a depeg amidst Justin Sun drama Fidelity launches a no-fee crypto IRA product Larry Fink is bullish bitcoin Content mentioned:
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Alexei Zamyatin (Build on Bitcoin) on True Rollups on Bitcoin (EP.608)
On The Brink with Castle Island
, the cofounder of (BOB), joins the show to talk about the state of the art in Bitcoin Rollups. In this episode: Can Bitcoin achieve parity with Ethereum rollups? How BitVM and BitVMv2 changed the game for Bitcoin rollups When will Bitcoin rollups be considered “Stage 1” Ethereum’s existential crisis Bitcoin fees in a rollup world The risk of L2s cannibalizing Bitcoin Will Bitcoin DeFi look different from Ethereum DeFi? Why Bitcoin deserves Rollups What soft forks is Alexei looking forward to? Does institutionalization ossify Bitcoin? BOB’s progress and roadmap for 2025 Learn...
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Weekly Roundup 03/28/25 (MiCA Stablecoins, Gamestop, Hyperliquid) (EP.607)
On The Brink with Castle Island
Matt and Nic return for another week of news and deals. In this episode: We reflect on our podcast with Paolo Ardoino The EU’s MiCA rules make launching a stablecoin virtually impossible We explain the Ghiblification crazy OCC removes Reputation risk from bank supervision World Liberty Fi launches a stablecoin Hyperliquid suffers an exploit - are they decentralized? Fidelity is exploring the launch of a stablecoin ICE is looking to use USDC Coinbase is reportedly looking to acquire Deribit US Treasury lifts sanctions on Tornado Cash Sei is looking to buy 23andme
info_outlineCaitlin Long, founder and CEO of Avanti Financial Group, joins the show. Caitlin is a thinker and writer we admire a huge amount and she has done a monumental job with her advocacy for responsible custody practices among crypto depository institutions. She is one of the key architects of the Wyoming Special Purpose Depository Institution legislation which establishes a new form of crypto bank in Wyoming. In in no small part thanks to her efforts that Wyoming is the most progressive state in terms of defining and regulating digital assets and the institutions that custody them. We share Caitlin's enthusiasm for clarifying depositor exchange relationships and for public-facing proofs of reserve, so we were very excited have her on the show. Covered in this episode:
- Risks involved in complying with the FATF's travel rule
- How the FATF enforces its recommendations
- Why compliance burdens freeze out small and community banks
- How the $10k limit for disclosure for cash transactions increases the scope of transactions that should be disclosed in real terms
- How the Bank Secrecy Act and the third party doctrine means the government can procure warrantless financial data
- Caitlin's Bitcoin origin story
- The thawing of the gold community's sentiments towards bitcoin
- The tension inherent in the institutionalization of bitcoin
- Why Proofs of Reserves aren't more popular today
- The importance of distinguishing ownership of a key and a legal title
- Why users are poorly equipped to hold exchanges accountable
- Why the state by state regulation in the US doesn't suit the reality of crypto custodians
- How the Wyoming SPDI legislation got started
- What the Wyoming SPDI laws actually mean
- How Avanti got its name
- Caitlin's long term objectives with Avanti
- Why banking remains the achilles heel of the crypto industry
- Why existing banks might not be able to handle future growth of the crypto industry
- How the FDIC targeted the crypto industry
- Why custodians should have access to the Fed window
- Caitlin's pitch to entrepreneurs to move to Wyoming